Disaster planning and response

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The newly appointed U.S. official charged with overseeing disaster recovery in Puerto Rico said Tuesday that while the pace of federally funded projects to help hurricane and earthquake victims has quickened, he’s worried about long term efforts. The comments by Peter...

FILE - In this Feb. 11, 2020, file photo provided by the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, area officials monitor a potential dam/levee failure in the Springridge Place subdivision in Yazoo County, Miss. Heavy rains and recent flooding across the Southeastern U.S. have highlighted a potential public safety concern for some dams. An Associated Press review has identified hundreds of high hazard dams in the South that lack formal emergency action plans. (David Battaly/Mississippi Emergency Management Agency via AP, File)

When recent heavy rains swelled a private Mississippi lake and began eroding its earthen dam, Yazoo County Emergency Management Director Jack Willingham was scrambling for a plan. He had no contact information for any of the homeowners who might need to evacuate, so he drove to the scene and began...

Rescue operations continue as emergency services take families to safety, after flooding in Nantgarw, Wales, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020. Storm Dennis roared across Britain on Sunday, lashing towns and cities with high winds and dumping so much rain that authorities urged residents to protect themselves from "life-threatening floods" in Wales and Scotland. (Ben Birchall/PA via AP)

LONDON (AP) — Storm Dennis roared across Britain with high winds and heavy rains Sunday, prompting authorities to issue a record number of flood warnings and alerts for England and a rare “red warning" for extremely life-threatening flooding in Wales. The Met Office, Britain's meteorological...

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Strikes killed more than 30 civilians in a mountainous northern Yemeni province Saturday, the U.N. humanitarian chief for the country said, calling the attack “shocking.” The Yemeni rebels, known as Houthis, accused the Saudi-led coalition of launching retaliatory airstrikes,...

People watch waves and rough seas pound against the harbour wall at Porthcawl in Wales, as Storm Dennis sweeps across the country, Saturday Feb. 15, 2020. Enormous waves are churning across the North Atlantic as Britain braces for a second straight weekend of wild winter weather and flooding. (Ben Birchall/PA via AP)

LONDON (AP) — Rescuers pulled two male bodies from rough seas off the coast of southeast England and military personnel mobilized to help build flood barriers Saturday as a second straight weekend of stormy weather wreaked havoc across Britain. The fourth named storm of the season, dubbed Dennis by...

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — A fast response by the European Union to the earthquake in Albania that killed 51 people has increased the bloc’s popularity among the tiny Western Balkan country’s population, according to an EU official. A survey published Monday on the Albanian public perception of the EU...

In this Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020 photo, Nate Fuller and Archie Morrow await rescue on the roof of a home in Thorn Hollow outside of Adams, Ore. The pair were stranded when they attempted to rescue the elderly couple who were stuck in the house as waters from the Umatilla River began to rise. All were rescued by helicopter that evening. Severe flooding in eastern Oregon closed a major freeway on Friday, forced evacuations in low-lying areas and stranded at least one family on their roof as other parts of the Pacific Northwest also braced for more flooding and landslides. (Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian via AP)

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Residents in the foothills of the towering Blue Mountains in rural northeast Oregon were plucked from their flooded homes by helicopter and others rode to safety in the bucket of a front-end loader as relentless rain and melting snow pushed multiple rivers over their banks. An...

In this Friday, Jan. 10 photo, children play on a hay farm where residents from the Indios neighborhood of Guayanilla, Puerto Rico, have set up shelter after earthquakes and amid aftershocks in Guayanilla, Puerto Rico. A 6.4 magnitude quake that toppled or damaged hundreds of homes in southwestern Puerto Rico is raising concerns about where displaced families will live, while the island still struggles to rebuild from Hurricane Maria two years ago. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic-controlled House on Friday passed a $20 billion-plus aid package for Puerto Rico, where a swarm of earthquakes last month set back the island territory's slow, troubled recovery from the hurricane devastation of 2017. The legislation, approved by a mostly party-line...

A couple shelter under an umbrellas as rain falls in Sydney, Friday, Feb. 7, 2020, while the Bureau of Meteorology issued severe weather warning along the New South Wales state coast. The rain comes as a slight relief for some areas dealing with wildfires that devastated large swathes of land across the state over the last several months. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Heavy rains lashed parts of the wildfire and drought-stricken Australian east coast on Friday, bringing some flooding in Sydney and relief to firefighters still dealing with dozens of blazes in New South Wales. New South Wales is the state hardest hit by wildfires that...

A firefighter carries Harlyn Alves, 2 years old, along a rope line and to high ground as his four-member family was evacuated from their apartment building Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020, in Issaquah, Wash. Heavy rain sent the creek over a major roadway, under an apartment building east of Seattle and up to the foundations of homes as heavy rains pounded the region. A flood watch was in effect through Friday afternoon across most of western Washington. Numerous roads were closed because of water over the roadway. Officials also warned of landslide risks. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

ISSAQUAH, Wash. (AP) — Heavy rains sent a creek over a major roadway and into an apartment building east of Seattle on Thursday. Amanda Amphett, a resident of the Park Shore Apartments in Issaquah, said Issaquah Creek reached their parking lot late Wednesday night. Her neighbor knocked on her door...